That is 24 miles away from my house, and is separated by all sorts of various types of property including farm land. I can make it by car in under half an hour for probably a couple dollars worth of gas.

Figure out a way to make public transport faster and cheaper than that for a rural guy like me, and then we'll talk. The US has more area like this than anything else by far.

Plus a sizable percentage of people who live in cities actually DO rely on public transport to get around. People are just doing the best they can for where they live.

What I have stated about my life and family is true and if that sticks in your thought so be it . That doesn't change the fact that I live in a free Country that has given me the chance to live free and prosper.

I've lived in cities where there is public transportation and I have lived in rural areas where I had to drive 50 miles to the Wal-Mart to get groceries. The geography of the USA definitely is one of the reasons public transportation won't work for everyone.

Another reason is the average American is more independent. They dislike being at someone else's mercy when the train, bus, streetcar or whatever is under someone else's control who may be drunk, drugged, asleep, texting, etc. They don't want to have to follow someone else's timetable. They want to be able to take any of their stuff with them and not be subjected to having their bags checked before they take the metro.

Because of America's love affair with the car. We also have pretty decent roads and highways compared to some countries and more people own cars per capita here than probably anywhere else. We haven't had a major need to invest in public transportation.

After spending lots of time in Prague in the Czech Republic, I could get around without using any sort of automobile. The tram stopped right in front of my hotel and the Metro got me everywhere. So, after using the amazing public transportation of Prague, it was a real slap in the face when I returned to the US. Why is it that other countries like Germany, Portugal, and the Czech Republic have such great and efficient public transportation while most cities in the US only have buses (see the disaster of public transit in Cheyenne, Wyoming for example) and many other cities have even less? Is it a financial thing, or just US officials being against public transit?

Seriously, nearly every public transit project in smaller cities have been put on hold. Remember when we were going to get high speed rail in Wisconsin? And then it gets cancelled. And at the same time, two lines on the Prague Metro get expanded/extended.

I'm surprised US officials aren't taking this into account.

It's the romance of the auto-mobile. But,most of it is the automotive companies doing, and they purposely sabotaged public transit development for a long time on the taxpayer's money. Literally training employees to offer bad service, and buying up railways for trolleys, trams and trains just to let them fall into disrepair and bad public opinion just to drive up car sales.

And, there are these too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AFn7MiJz_s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skm6hp99-5A

Geography.
The USA is far more spread out than any European or developed Asian country. Public transit works well intracity and would work well on the coasts, but the middle of the Midwest and West are sparsely populated. It hasn't really been economically feasible to transport people. We do have the best freight system in the world, so it's not like we CAN'T, but rather... where the fuck will the money come from?

I can't wait to see whether or not Hyperloop will be a success. If it is, you will see the auto companies be absolute dicks.

It's not that bad, but the US is massive. I live in a state that has 20,000 more square miles and 62 million less people than the UK. Not England, the whole fucking UK.

Now take Czech Republic, it's only 30,000 square miles, has a population of 10 million, in which 20% of them live in Prague. You'd think they would have good service jammed in that tight. I mean, let's see, Prague itself is a little under 200 square miles, So it isn't that hard to service all of them.